"While browsing through the Scottish Third Division statistics for this season, I noticed that James McKenzie of Albion was sent off in each of the three games he has played this season," writes Chris Haynes. "Is this a record for consecutive red cards?"

McKenzie's record is particularly poor, Chris. But it can't hold a candle to the pitiful display of Dean Windass, who during his time at Aberdeen once managed to amass the same haul of red cards in a mere 22 minutes.

Having picked up a booking in the first minute of a game at Dundee United in November 1997, Windass took 21 more minutes to procure a second for another trademark industrial challenge.

Off he went. But before you could say "toy" or "pram", Windass let rip a volley of abuse in the direction of referee Stuart Dougal. The man in black was unimpressed with all the effs and cees pouring into his lugs, and sent the bulky forward off again.

Windass left the field of play in that lofty vehicle, high dudgeon, stopping awhile to rip a corner flag out of the ground and fling it to the floor like a great big bairn. Off he went again!

Windass amassed 22 penalty points for his three red cards, at a rate of exactly one point per minute of "action". For his trouble, he was suspended for seven weeks.

And how did the game end? Aberdeen lost 5-0, a defeat which cost manager Roy Aitken his job. But you can't really blame Dean; they were already three down before he walked.

In the 1973-74 Second Division, Millwall ended the season with the following record:

Millwall P42 W14 D14 L14 F51 A51 Pts42

For the love of sweet Harry Cripps, that's spooky.

WAS CARLTON PALNMER A WORLD RECORD HOLDER?

I remember flicking through a football magazine once and it claimed that when he was about 14, Carlton Palmer set the world record for endurance skipping," says Shervin Moghaddam. "It even had a photo of a young Carlton, skipping rope in hand, next to the article. Please could you find out if I was dreaming or was Carlton really a child prodigy in endurance skipping?

The jury's still out on this one, Shervin. Harry Georgiadis says he remembers the piece - "I can recall reading that article in Shoot! in the early 1990s complete with school photos of the world champ's feats in the 1970s, undoubtedly his greatest sporting achievement" - but unfortunately no one else seems to.

A call to Shoot! drew a frustrating blank. "No-one knows anything about that," a spokeswoman told us. So we tried the Guinness Book of Records - only to get the same response.

We do know this, however: if Carlton did hold the world record for endurance skipping, he doesn't own it now. The current record is held by American Frank Oliveri, who in 1989 kept going for 31 hours, 46 minutes and 48 seconds (although he was allowed a five-minute break after every completed hour for rest, visits to the toilet, refreshment, medical checks and so on).

Meanwhile, Mike Ryan has other ideas about the footballer's murky past. "Carlton Palmer was actually a world hopscotch champion," he suggests, adding - tongue in cheek no doubt - that, as a child, Palmer had "successfully hop-scotched around the world twice".

Does anyone else know better?

KNOWLEDGE ARCHIVE PLUG

"Has there ever been the following result: "East Fife 4 Forfar 5? (and will it replace the Leith Police?)" asks Richard Jackson.

Nearly, but not quite - there was Forfar 5 East Fife 4 though. You'll find the answer to this question (May 17), along with several hundred others by going to the Knowledge Archive

HOW DID THE NUTMEG GET ITS NAME?

"Can you tell me why the 'nutmeg' is so called, and how long this term has been in use?" asks Dave Birrell. "I refuse to believe my girlfriend's suggestion that it comes from an abbreviation of a hapless defender's cry: 'Not my legs.'"

"The term nutmeg is cockney rhyming slang for leg," says Pete Tomlin. Therefore, when the ball is played between an opponent's legs, a player or fan shouts 'Nutmegs."

Jez Simmonds agrees: "According to none other than popular Sky pundit and former Fulham favourite Jimmy Hill, the expression nutmeg is little more than dodgy rhyming slang."

"Nutmeg equals leg, apparently, and was thus coined during the 1940s to describe the skill of placing the ball between an opponent's legs before retrieving it t'other side.

"Although I wasn't hugely convinced by this explanation, Jimmy generally knows his stuff - and, like me, is a Balham SW12 boy."

But what about the 'nut' part? According to Alex Leith's book 'Over the Moon, Brian - The Language of Football' "nuts" - a term commonly used for nutmeg in the north of England "refers to the testicles of the player through whose legs the ball has been passed and nutmeg is just a development from this." So now you know.

FOOTBALL RIDDLE #2, PART 2

"Which footballer has played in the Premier League, managed in the Premier League, played for England and played against England?" asks Barnaby Smith.

In last week's Knowledge we mentioned that Dave Watson had achieved this particular feat. But, Adam Wallace reckons that both Bryan Robson and Glenn Hoddle have managed it too, having played against Mike England's Wales for England.

A quick flick through the archives shows that he's right - both Robson and Hoddle played in England's 1-0 win against a Mike England managed Wales side on April 27 1982.

CAN YOU HELP?

"I heard a story that, between takes on the set of Escape to Victory, Pele had a little wager with Sylvester Stallone," writes John King. "The story goes that Pele bet Sly that that he wouldnt be able to save his penalty, even though he was going to tell him where he was putting it. Stallone obviously thought he was up to the task being the hulking mound of talentless muscle that he doubtless is. Pele said he'd stick it in the bottom right, Sly dived and got a full hand to it but such was the power of the spot-kick that it broke his hand - and went in. True tale or urban myth?"

"Aston Villa and West Ham have just played out their seventh consecutive league draw; is this a record?" asks Mad Cyril. "Also, a fair few of them were scoreless, so what's the most consecutive scoreless draws played between two teams in the league?"